Markets around the world plunged for a third day on Monday, with no relief from President Trump’s tariffs and no apparent end in sight, either.
Why it matters: Investors are losing trillions of dollars. Recession odds are rising — and unlike past market crises, a coordinated policy response has been withheld thus far.
The big picture: In Trump’s first term, markets could comfortably rely on the “Trump put,” the idea that if they reacted badly enough, he’d reverse whatever policy caused the sell-off.
- The Trump put is now clearly all but dead.
- “I don’t want anything to go down. But sometimes you have to take medicine to fix something,” the president said Sunday night.
By the numbers: U.S. stock futures were well off their overnight lows as of about 6 a.m. Monday, but still indicating an open broadly 3% lower.
- After the tech-heavy Nasdaq and small-cap benchmark Russell 2000 slipped into “bear market” territory last week, down 20% off their recent highs, the S&P 500 is on the cusp of doing so Monday.
- That follows a widespread 6% decline in European stocks in morning trading, which came after key Asian indices like the Nikkei fell 8% or more.
- The dollar continued to weaken slightly, while traditional safe-haven gold swung between small gains and losses.
- Nothing was immune; global crypto market cap fell 11% in the last 24 hours, led by a sharp sell-off in bitcoin, per CoinGecko data.
What to watch: Just how bad it gets.
- Absent a rally, this could end up being the second-worst three-day decline in percentage terms in market history, behind only the 1987 Black Monday crash, per data from Bespoke Investment Group.
- Billionaire investor Bill Ackman, an outspoken Trump supporter, warned of “economic nuclear winter” if the tariffs were not paused immediately.
Editor’s note: This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
